Introduction to Fuzzy sets

Classical set / Crisp set (A)

• A set with a fixed and well-defined boundary
• Universal set / Universe of Discourse (X): A set consisting of all
possible elements
Ex: All technical universities of the world
• Classical set / Crisp set: A set of technical universities having
three departments each
Representation of Crisp sets
• A={a1,a2,……,an}
• A={x|P(x)}, P: property
• Using characteristic function
1, if x belongs to A,
μA(x)=
0, if x does not belong to A.
Notations used in Set Theory

•  : Empty/ Null set

• x  A : Element x of the Universal set X belongs to set A
• x  A : x does not belong to set A
• A  B : set A is a subset of set B
• A  B : set A is a superset of set B
• A  B : A and B are equal
• A  B : A and B are not equal
• A  B : A is a proper subset of B
• A  B : A is a proper superset of B
• A : Cardinality of set A is defined as the total number of
elements present in a set
• p(A) : Power set of A- the maximum number of subsets
including the null that can be constructed from a set A

Note: p A  2 A
Crisp Set Operations
• Difference: A-B = { x | x  A and x  B}
It is known as relative complement of set B with respect to set A

Absolute complement: A  AC  X  A  x | x  Xandx  A

• Intersection A B  x | x  Aandx  B

• Union A B  x | x  Aorx  B
Properties of Crisp Sets
1.A  A
2.A  B  B  A
AB  BA
3.A  B  C  A  B  C 
A  B  C  A  B  C
4.A  B  C   A  B  A  C 
A  B  C   A  B  A  C 
5.A  A  A
AA  A
6.A  A  B  A
A  A  B  A
7.A  X  X
A X  A
A  A
A 
8.A  B   A  B
A B  A B
9. Law of contradiction
AA  
10. Law of excluded middle
AA  X
Fuzzy Sets
• Sets with imprecise / vague boundaries
• Introduced by Prof. L.A. Zadeh, University of California,
U.S.A, in 1965
• Potential tool for handling imprecision and uncertainties
• Fuzzy set is a more general concept of the classical set

Representation of a Fuzzy set

Ax  x,  A x, x  X 

Note: Probability: Frequency of likelihood that an

element is in a class
Membership: Similarity of an element to a class
Types of Fuzzy sets
1. Discrete Fuzzy
n
set
A x     A  xi  / xi ,
i 1
n: Number of elements present in the set

2. Continuous Fuzzy set

Ax     A x  / x
X
Convex Vs Non-Convex Membership Function Distribution
A fuzzy set A(x) will be convex, if
 A x1  1  x2   min  A x1 ,  A x2 
Where 0.0 ≤ λ ≤ 1.0
Various Types of Membership Function Distributions
1. Triangular Membership

  x a cx  
 triangle  max  min  , ,0 
  ba cb  

2. Trapezoidal Membership

  xa d x 
trapezoidal  max  min  ,1,  ,0 
  ba d c  
3. Gaussian Membership

1
 Gaussian  2
1  xm 
 
2  
e

4. Bell-shaped Membership Function

1
 Bell shaped 
xc
2b

1
a
5. Sigmoid Membership

1
 Sigmoid 
1  e  a  x b 